1191 Nothing Never Was.

I found out today that the Teen finds reading comics confusing. I investigated the matter and she said that she wasn’t sure how to read them, and that she tried to read them up down up down… So I guess she reads comics Hebrew style? Anyway, maybe next time she decides to try a comic she’ll remember to read it the way I showed her. I hope.

The other day I was in my old Hastings store and they had some One Piece figures at an unusually good price, so I got a couple. I’ve always wanted figures for the main crew, but have never found any I could commit to. These ones are 5 and a half inches tall or so, from a line called Super One Piece Styling. It’s mostly the main crew in random outfits, and occasionally some side characters. Anyway I got Nami and Robin, who were, strangely, a couple of the last ones left. I didn’t like Sanji’s outfit, or Zolo’s and they didn’t have Usop, who I really wanted. Anyway the Nami didn’t match the picture on the box, because apparently mine is the variant version from that set, which is cool. I’m gonna try and get a good version of each of the main guys from this line if I can. It’s looking like it’s gonna be hard to do. The import thing is always kind of a mess, but it’s something to try. If any of you know good import shops I’d appreciate the info.

I was gonna talk about something, but I’ve been trying to catch up on pages for the last couple of hours, while watching a documentary about Edge from the WWE, with the Teen. (Who has commandeered my bed.) It totally blanked my mind out. (Also it’s a total drama night with one of her friends… I swear, teen angst!)

Years ago, I got a Hastings discount card in the mail. WTF? I live East of the River in Connecticut, which pretty much means the Casino Counties (Windham and New London). The nearest Hastings doesn’t even show up on their “Find a Store” web page. I was bored and had nothing better to do, so I sent out a “Contact Us” message. I got back a very nice eMail to the effect that they had bought out a few stores when Walden Books failed, where there was already a Barnes and Noble in the same market. Some Suit decided it was important to send a loyalty cards to a huge list of former Walden customers. Hey, Hastings ships, and they have eBooks. It was a win-win — just wish they had a brick & mortar store within 500 miles.

You know what I get sick of “Oh, Carol’s totally hot, why would she go for Thomas?” Shit. Really, guys? Thomas treats her like a goddess. He respects her, adores her, can talk to her on a equal intellectual level, can playfully bicker and tease her as she does him, makes her laugh, and he’s not half bad in the looks department. Believe it or not, any woman with self respect and a brain LIKES that stuff. Why is it so hard to believe that the hot redhead wants the guy who treats her like a person and an equal, and is genuinely ecstatic that she’s in his life?

Carol is the one I find most attractive, but I think if I worked at Megatainment I’d wind up spending the most time with Nina. She’s just… Welcoming. Accepting. And that panel is very reflective of her personality.

Crave, your comic is one of my favourites because the characters just behave like real people do. Reggie is not an Evil Jerk In Every Way trope, which is a breath of fresh air. The character designs are diverse and don’t follow conventional tropes either. For example, you illustrate Nina as having prominent front teeth yet it isn’t used as a stereotypical “nerdy” or “ugly” trait.

As far as the complaints about “the nerd getting the hot chick”… how is that not believable? People seem to forget that “hot chicks” can also be nerds and, by the same token, so can “hot guys”. Let’s not fall back on stereotypes that are more useless than ever in today’s world. Nerds are a diverse group of people who range quite a bit in both their looks and demeanor, which is becoming more apparent as nerd culture is dominating pop culture in general.

I also miss hastings. The ones in my state all closed. The final one I think closed in 2004. It was a sad thing. Though living where I do now I don’t mind it quite as much since I have access to all the nerd shit I want. Also, I’d be interested in pics of the one piece figs. If you ever get the time. I’d like to know more of the outfits of which you speak.

And finally, I gotta ask, Why Usopp? I’ve always found him to be the most annoying member of the team (although he’s shockingly an effing badass in one piece pirate warriors 2 which I highly recommend if you acquire some spending money and have need of a stress reducing button masher for ps3). And that includes franky, who is ridiculous.

As I’ve said before, In a world populated with crazy supermen he holds his own with rubber bands and rocks. That kind of spirit counts a lot for me, because in a world filled with people better than me I keep on fighting too.

even the crazy supermen have downsides. Its almost built like a roleplay. Every character has innate strengths coupled with ridiculously retarded drawbacks. I honestly dislike him more for his personality and not the fact that he’s a weak character. That being said he becomes quite a bit more impressive “power level” wise to steal a dbz term, after the time skip.

What I hope to see tomorrow is Nina leaning forward to give Thomas a kiss on the forehead in a golden curtain of hair. The way he is sitting, the way she is standing, with how good of friends that they are, I can see this happening.

Not as a sexual thing. But more as a mother kissing a child before swatting them on the rear and saying ‘Go Play!’

Big Bad Toy Store http://www.bbts.com (they’re in the US, but price on import items can vary from a few bucks more than Japanese retail but with domestic shipping to WTF?? so while I love them, check around on import figures).

Also check out Amazon. I’m getting the S.H. Figuarts Sailor Scouts through Bluefin Distribution, who is working with Bandai to provide many Figuarts items to US buyers. I don’t watch One Piece so I don’t know what they have but it’s an option at least.

man o man, from last week to this one Nina looks fantastic. Thanks for making her look great i dont want to call it pandering but if you are… please continue. p.s. thanks every week (every other day) for the time and dedication that you put into this comic crave.

I have to say, I disagree with Nina’s opinion here. If you don’t think about who you want to be, who you are, and whatever internal rule structure you may build for yourself, it very easy to blunder into a minefield of foolish or not fully thought out decisions. You have to know who you want to be to make the right decisions. And if you’re happy with who you are largely, how to make the even harder decisions of staying as similar to who you are now as possible. (I’d argue not changing a lot when adapting is harder than changing rapidly, but better. That’s heavily skewed by personal bias however.)
But I’ve had discussions very similar to this one with other friends and I guess its just a different way of viewing the world? I’ve never managed it.

She gets cuter the more philosophical she gets.
No seriously.
LOOK!*
J/k- it could just be me, if this is an actual thing that you intended Crave- well played.
If not, I guess I just discovered my fetish for deep/meaningful conversation.

One of the things I miss about going to see my ex GF, (besides her…somewhat) was the fact that there was a Hastings in the town that she lived in. It was pretty much the only place in town to get books, comics, music and cheap Blu-Rays and DVD’s, unless you wanted to drive to Wichita. We’d spend hours in there perusing stuff, playing around, and generally making a nuisance of ourselves, until she would finally “convince” me to buy stuff for her, us…whatever.

Amazon and the like are great, but there’s something to be said for the thrill of the hunt, and physically searching for the damn thing yourself. It’ll be sad to see physical stores eventually go the way of the buffalo.

They all have Kansas accents except Mike, who has a slight Texas accent, like you might hear in a big city. Which is to say they hit vowels harder and default towards a nasal pronunciation for most words in dispute. You can look it up on youtube.

Yeah. Missouri’s accent has a slight southern twinge. Gets more pronounced the closer you get to the Ozarks. I would have thought the further west you go in Kansas the more that Colorado influence kicks in.

The accents are virtually identical. Maybe you have to go deep into Colorado but as far as I am tell they have no significant differences. In fact based on my own travels you have to go way out of Kansas before you get much variation. Occasionally an old farming family will have a thick accent but not city people.